


Little Wolf

by Dearly_Divided



Category: Far Cry 5
Genre: Angst, Blood and Violence, Canon Universe, Canon-Typical Violence, Dark-ish, F/M, Polyseed (Far Cry), Supernatural Elements, Werewolves, kind of, nothing too graphic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-23
Updated: 2019-12-23
Packaged: 2021-02-26 06:00:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,737
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21918733
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dearly_Divided/pseuds/Dearly_Divided
Summary: All her life, Rook had been taught to hide what she was.Routine was key - control, focus and restraint. She could suppress the change if she tried hard enough, fight off the rise of emotions that ignited her blood, urging her to just give in and shift. Fear, grief, anger, wrath and rage, such human emotions - instinctual and dangerous.
Relationships: Female Deputy | Judge/Jacob Seed, Female Deputy | Judge/John Seed, Female Deputy | Judge/Joseph Seed
Comments: 18
Kudos: 167





	Little Wolf

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Englass](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Englass/gifts).



> A Christmas gift to my darling friend @englass

All her life, Rook had been taught to hide what she was. **  
**

Routine was key - control, focus and restraint. She could suppress the change if she tried hard enough, fight off the rise of emotions that ignited her blood, urging her to just _give in_ and shift. Fear, grief, anger, wrath and rage, such human emotions - instinctual and _dangerous_.

It wasn’t that she was ashamed, she hadn’t asked for what had happened to her; she was only a child and barely able to defend herself, but hiding meant safety and not just her own. If she closed her eyes, Rook could still vividly picture the horrified look her mother had given her the first night she’d lost control - they’d found her alone in the woods, shaking with blood that wasn’t her own smeared across her face. It was the first time Rook ever remembered her parents being afraid of her. 

The first, but not the last. 

After that, hiding became paramount. 

The creature that mauled her was long gone and her parents, though they tried, didn’t know how to help her; Rook had to figure it out herself. It took years of practice, but eventually she learned how to control herself, to fight off the change even when the wolf inside her snarled to be let free. She became the perfect daughter, the perfect student - anything less wasn’t acceptable.

But even with her years of careful practice, Rook couldn’t deny the wolf entirely. She’d learned early on that if she suppressed the change for too long… bad things happened, things she couldn’t control. She needed to run free every once in a while.

Maybe that was what drew her to Hope County - the wide open skies, the wilderness of the mountains - nobody would look twice at another wolf chasing rabbits through the trees. 

For a while, she found a kind of peace; it wasn’t perfect, but it was hers.

Then came Joseph Seed and his family, and their beloved Project.

The moment she’d stepped into that damned church, she’d known instinctively that they were absolutely and utterly _fucked_. It wasn’t Joseph’s mad ravings, or the fact that they were horrifically outnumbered and outgunned, it wasn’t even his siblings standing at his back, so clearly devoted to their brother - willing to kidnap, torture and kill to see his prophecy become a reality. No, it was the way that Joseph stared at her.

Hell, he called her, and maybe he wasn’t wrong. 

Rook knew the moment she slapped the cuffs on his wrist that whatever this was, it was far from over. For the first time in a long time, she felt fear settle into her gut.

Unfortunately, she was right.

It was a miracle that she was able to escape from that chopper and slip from the Peggies’ grasp, even if she landed herself in Dutch’s bunker for her troubles. She didn’t flinch away from what he asked of her. Rook might have been new to the County but this was her home and Staci and Joey were her friends. She was strong and she was fast and she was all they had left, of course she was going to fight for them.

Rook strode from Dutch’s bunker with her head held high, her rifle strapped to her back. 

In the space of a few hours, her life turned upside down. Years of careful practice and control were thrown out the window. There wasn’t time to stop and think as she raced across the County, hounded by Peggies and the Seeds, fighting back and freeing those that she could along the way. Days blurred into one another, she lost track of time. Surrounded by blood and fear and adrenaline, she had to fight that much harder to keep the wolf under control.

And there was that sinful little voice inside of her that urged her to just let go, become the wolf and tear through any resistance that she met. Rook had only killed once as a wolf, the first night she’d turned. She’d been young and terrified back then, she hadn’t understood what was happening to her and like a wounded animal she’d struck out at the first person who’d tried to help. It wasn’t the fear that she’d get caught as a wolf that stopped her from turning now, it was the fear of losing control.

So Rook kept her companions close, she didn’t allow herself a moment alone. It was easier that way.

And her newfound friends seemed to take no issue with it, hell, Sharky damn near pouted every time she so much as mentioned parting. “You need me to keep you safe, Shorty. I’m not going nowhere.”

It was a good thing. They kept her human, and she loved them for that. 

The situation was far from perfect, but Rook had a handle on it. With Sharky, her sweet Boomer and occasionally Nick and the others by her side, she carved a path of destruction and liberation through the Henbane and the Valley. 

And maybe that made her cocky. John called her Wrath and he wasn’t wrong. She could try and deny it all she wanted to, but a part of her _liked_ this. Even with the sleepless nights, the constant threat looming over her, Rook revelled in the fight. 

The words he’d spoken to her over the radio as she’d slipped from his grasp into the Whitetails struck a chord, playing over and over in her head like a broken record.

“You keep running, Deputy, indulging in the wrath that fuels you. Tell me, my dear, what’s the end game? What happens when there’s no more blood to be shed, no more destruction to wreak? When you’re empty and alone and there’s nowhere left to run and no one to turn to, what then?”

After years of repressing every instinct, fighting to keep that wild part of her contained, she had the freedom to run, to hunt - maybe not as the wolf, but she lived for it all the same. If the resistance won, if she destroyed the cult, freed her friends, locked away the Seeds and life returned to normal, what then? She’d come here for peace, but with every day that passed, that life seemed to slip further and further from her grasp. It wasn’t so much that she didn’t see an end to the bloodshed, but rather the sinking feeling she had in her gut that wondered whether, after endless days of revelling in the running and fighting, Rook _could_ go back to the way things were.

And if she kept indulging in the whims of monster that lurked beneath her skin, how long until there was nothing human left of her?

Sharky, far more perceptive than most gave him credit for, noticed her unease and slung an arm around her shoulders, pulling her into a tight hug.

“You know he’s full of shit, right? We’re helpin’ people, I never thought I’d say this, but _we’re the good guys here_. And fuck it, even if we weren’t, we’re ride or die. No matter what, me ‘n the others? We’re not going anywhere.”

And despite the doubt that gnawed away inside of her, she relaxed into his embrace, offering him up a grateful smile. 

So long as she had her friends by her side, Rook wouldn’t lose that part of herself.

That reliance didn’t slip past Jacob.

It had been a mistake, wreaking havoc in the Henbane and the Valley before setting foot into the eldest Seed’s mountains. While she had torn her path through his siblings’ territory, Jacob had been watching, studying her - her patterns, her behaviour, how she fought, where she attacked.

And while he never got close enough to see the truth, he learned an _awful_ lot.

The moment she crossed over to his land, Jacob had a single purpose, one he ruthlessly pursued - separate Rook from those she loved.

Even looking back on it, Rook hadn’t quite understood how exactly it had happened. One minute Sharky and Boomer had been at her side fighting, the next she was running at breakneck speed, darting through the trees with Jacob’s hunters hot on her heels.

There hadn’t been time to stop, to breathe.

She ran for three days straight.

Rook had heard rumours of the things Jacob did to the men and women he’d caught - the trials, the classical conditioning, the homicidal feuge states. It was a simple principle; deprive people of food, sleep, any kind of comfort, give them a stimuli and they revert to pure instinct.

He was good at what he did. Faith worked with her Bliss - it was hardly a science, and John, well, people would admit to all sorts of things given the right motivation (and what a great motivator pain was), but Jacob, Jacob was thoughtful, he was practiced.

It was an art, and he was a master.

She was already hungry and tired when his hunters finally brought her down. Two days in a cage with not a drop of water under the beating sun and she was primed for her first trial. It didn’t matter how strong she was, how fierce a fighter - she’d become receptive to his impulses like all the others before her. That was the beauty of Jacob’s work, it wasn’t a question of _if_ a person would break, but _when_.

Unfortunately for Jacob, the base instincts that Rook reverted to weren’t the _human_ kind.

The change slipped over her before she could stop it. 

Jacob and Staci, safe in the observation room, could only watch in mute fascination and shock as Rook tore free of her bonds, russet fur sprouting along her body as she shifted. Bones snapped and muscles contorted, her face lengthening, teeth sharpening. She fell to the ground with a bone chilling howl - savage and feral and so very fucking hungry.

“Holy s-shit,” Staci breathed, watching the grainy monitors with wide eyed horror as the wolf - Rook - sniffed the air, her lips pulled back into a snarl. “What the fuck is that?!”

Jacob had never really been the type to believe in things that went bump in the night. The world was already full of real monsters, himself included, to entertain the thought of supernatural ones.

And yet, there she was - his Deputy turned wolf, and what a magnificent monster she was. She was bigger than most of his Judges, her muscles strong and powerful, coiled tight like a spring as she shifted onto her haunches. 

“Well I’ll be damned,” he said with a low whistle, folding his arms over his chest. “Seems our Deputy Rook is just full of surprises.”

“She can’t… t-this isn’t real,” Staci choked out - his breath coming in short, shallow gasps, his shoulders trembling.

Jacob’s eyebrow lifted, “No? You volunteering to go in there and check for yourself, Peaches?” He chuckled as Staci flinched, “Yeah, didn’t think so.”

“What do we- she’s…” he trailed off, flinching as Rook’s howl echoed through the speakers. “How do we stop it- her?” he corrected hurriedly.

Far from being panicked, Jacob laughed again, “Now why would I want to go and do a thing like that, hmm?”

“But they’re still…” Staci’s gaze darted from the monitors - the image of the wolf advancing on the restrained Whitetails playing across the screen - to Jacob.

Jacob met his gaze with a cold, calculated smirk, “And?” 

Staci’s eyes widened, but - trained and obedient - his jaw snapped shut and he stared at the ground.

But Jacob paid him no mind, watching Rook with steadfast fascination - a vicious delight gleaming in his eyes. “Let’s see how she runs,” he murmured, the sound of screams and snarls flooding the room around them. “My little wolf.”

Even with their guns, those men didn’t stand a chance. Jacob crooned out praise as she tore them to pieces - one by one they fell, and while Staci shook beside him, Jacob was enthralled. He’d known that she was special, but he had no idea-

Even when the last of them was dead, he couldn’t tear his eyes away. The last notes of the song echoed out and like a switch flipped, Rook’s behaviour shifted once more - gone was the bloodthirsty, mindless beast and its place was something far more fragile and human. Large paws padded across the bloodstained floor, her nose close to the ground, sniffing, searching for a way out. She whined, the sound low and kenning as she paced past the bodies left in her wake. He wondered if she was aware - even on the grainy monitors he could see her soulful brown eyes as she surveyed her surroundings, and if Jacob didn’t know better, he might have thought that she almost looked _defeated._

The carnage was over, all that was left to do was wait.

The night after her first change Rook had woken up in the middle of the woods, scared and alone and covered in blood. She was twelve, and swore that it would never happen again - she’d never lose control, never kill another person, never wake up _scared and alone and covered in blood_.

When Rook awoke after her first trial she found herself in a cage. Fear - instant and instinctual, flooded her veins. She was clothed, a small miracle (and one she preferred not to think too deeply about), but the scent of fresh blood permeated the air, her hands and arms were covered in it, and she could still taste the familiar tang of copper in her mouth. 

This time however, she wasn’t alone. 

Standing in front of her was Jacob, and he had Joseph and John with him. 

Far from being perturbed by her condition, they seemed fascinated. They asked her question after question until Rook felt ready to scream. How had it happened? Where was the wolf who turned her? Had she ever turned anybody else? What was her first change like? Could she choose when to shift? How much control did she have when she was a wolf? How aware was she? Did shifting hurt? 

Were there others she’d met?

Rook answered them all with dutifully, her voice listless and her face blank. She wouldn’t give them the satisfaction of knowing how heart heart raced, the unease that ate away at her. She was cornered, trapped, and for the first time in a long time, Rook was scared.

She didn’t like the hunger that gleamed in Jacob’s eyes, nor the blossoming curiosity written across Joseph’s face. And John… Of all of them, she expected him to be the one most horrified, but the way he stared at her, the soft, wondrous smile he gave her when their eyes met - _that_ terrified her the most.

“You’ve been alone then?” Joseph asked, dropping to a crouch in front of the cage. He shifted slightly, lifted his arm as if to reach for her, only to let it drop with a shake of his head. 

She shrugged, hackles rising under his pitying gaze. “I had my family,” she snapped.

“Is that so?” he hummed, those blue, piercing eyes flickering across her face. “They accepted you then - their sweet, innocent daughter turned wolf?”

She hated herself for flinching. 

Her parents loved her, she _knew_ that but… they never quite looked at her the same after that first change. She wasn’t their little girl anymore, not entirely.

Joseph’s gaze softened and he sighed. “I watched the tapes, Deputy. I saw you as you are, no artifices to hide behind - I don’t blame them for being afraid, for forcing you to hide your true nature.”

_Routine was key - control, focus and restraint._

_Control, focus and restraint._

_Control._

_Focus._

_Restraint._

The words had become a mantra - one her parents had drilled into her obsessively until she lived and breathed it. Rook hadn’t been allowed to get angry or excited, she hadn’t been able to be impulsive. She’d had to be perfect and she’d had to hide.

But there were _reasons_ for that. Her eyes met his, exhaustion and raw, aching guilt bleeding through. “I tore a man’s throat out when I was twelve.”

This time Joseph did reach for her, his hand slipping through the bars to cup her cheek. “Yes, and you killed again today.”

Rook glanced up at Jacob, watching their exchange with a guarded expression. A whine, low and pained, slipped from the back of her throat, the unspoken words echoing loudly. _It wasn’t my fault._

“Shhh, my child. No one here blames you for those deaths.” His thumb tenderly brushed away the stray tears that spilled down her cheek. “It’s no wonder you’ve become wrath. You’ve been running for so long, hiding what you are, scared and utterly alone.”

Each word hit her like a blow, but the last was a knife, tearing its way through her heart. Unable to stop herself, a sob broke free.

“You won’t be alone anymore, Rook.”

Her heart skipped a beat, her stomach dropped. As the cloying panic began to creep its way through her veins, Rook’s attention shifted to Jacob and John standing behind their brother. Desperately she searched their faces for any hint of doubt, any sign that they knew what Joseph was suggesting was madness.

But instead of the horror, she found both of them smiling at her - Jacob’s wide grin more like a baring of teeth, and John’s an unsettling smirk.

Rook felt the cold dread seep into her bones.

“You can’t-”

“I can. There was a reason you were bitten, my child, a reason that you came to us. Let go of your pride, your fear. We won’t hurt you. This is God’s plan.”

He was insane, utterly insane.

“Jacob,” Joseph murmured, not taking his eyes off of her. 

Time slowed down as she watched Jacob pull out his music box and walk towards her, John trailing behind him. Her heart thudded unsteadily and she shook her head, “No, no please, please Jacob, _please don’t do this_!” she cried, falling back on her hands and scrambling to get as far away from him as she could.

Jacob’s shoulders rose and fell with a sigh as he glanced at Joseph, looking for something, approval maybe? A change of heart? But Joseph’s attention was fixed on Rook, watching her shake and _beg_ with a grim resolve.

“I know this will be painful, and I’m sorry for that, truly, but things will be better for all of us when this is done, I promise,” he said gently, his voice a soothing hum. “God has given you a gift, Rook. He brought you here, to us - this is his will, his blessing. You won’t be alone any longer.”

Didn’t he see? Didn’t he understand?! What she was - the monster - nothing good could ever come from that! It wasn’t a fucking blessing, it was a nightmare that had ruined her life, destroyed her relationship with her parents and made her a killer at twelve. 

She shook her head, more tears spilling down her face, “Please, I don’t want to hurt anyone else!”

Joseph smiled kindly, “I know, my child. Have faith.” He glanced at his brother and nodded with calm finality.

“PLEASE!” she begged as Jacob started to wind up the music box, “I could kill you! I don’t want-”

But the rest of her words were swallowed up by a as Jacob flipped the lid open and the music began to flow out across the courtyard. With one last, desperate look at the eldest Seed, the change once again ripped through her.

Seeing the change play out over grainy monitors was one thing, but witnessing it happen right before his eyes was something else entirely. Jacob didn’t bother to hide the wonder in his eyes as his Deputy shifted into a wolf, tearing through the clothes he’d given her and falling to the ground with a chilling howl. Across the courtyard, trapped in their own cages one of his Judges joined in, then another - a chorus of howls, primal and ancient echoed across the grounds sending shivers down his spine, but still Jacob couldn’t tear his eyes away. She was beautiful - wild and magnificent, treading back and forth and snarling in the small cage they’d trapped her in. 

Softly, John gasped beside him. Like Joseph, he too had watched Rook run her first trial, witnessed her transform from the woman driving him to the brink in so many ways into a wolf - and such a captivating one at that. But seeing it happen right in front of him… his heart thumped unsteadily, exhilaration and fear and utter delight racing through his veins.

“She’s…” he began, only to fall silent with a breathless laugh, shaking his head.

Jacob smirked, “Yep.”

“She is perfect,” Joseph breathed, soft wonder and awe written across his face. 

Watching them with baleful eyes as she paced in her cage, Rook growled.

Yet even in his certainty, Joseph’s fingers trembled as he reached to slip his arm between the bars, the wolf baring its teeth in anticipation, yet it was Jacob’s hand around his wrist that stilled him. “Are you sure you want this, Joe?”

Joseph smiled, turning to clasp his brother on the shoulder, “I’m sure. God brought her to us for a reason, Jacob. This is how our family survives.” Jacob just nodded, letting his younger brother pull him into an embrace - touching their foreheads together in a rare gesture of intimacy. “ _This_ is our reward,” he murmured as John took his place beside them.

“It’ll hurt like hell,” Jacob muttered, his lips twitching upwards into a half smirk as they broke apart.

“The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh,” he replied, a flicker of sheepish amusement dancing in the blue depths of his eyes. 

But as another rumbling snarl cut through the air their smiles faded, their attention once again shifting to their captive wolf.

Jacob sighed, “She’ll fight against us, this won’t change that.”

But Joseph just shook his head, gazing at the wolf with a foreboding smile. “She’ll try her best, I don’t doubt it, but eventually Rook will see the truth. We’re a family, a _pack_ , and we will be all that she has left.”

His hand slipped between the metal bars of her cage once more, reaching towards her soft fur, and Rook, imbued with the rage and bloodlust of Jacob’s conditioning did what came naturally - her sharp teeth closed around his forearm and she bit down. 

Hard.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading, I hope you guys enjoyed it - let me know with some kudos/comments if you did 💖Oh, and Happy Holidays!


End file.
